Fort Worth daily gazette. (Fort Worth, Tex.) 1882-1891, 1887-12-26
REST AND UNREST.
Treatise on eep and sleepiessness
Remedies for Insomnia.

OuOcI tue nSdulUS VI Olccp oUu OiSep
ilessness," Good Housekeeping prints
couple Of articles which, considering The
Importance of the topic, are full of inter
est. The writer thinks 1t wide of thu
mark to say that eight Or any NUMBER o,
| hours sre enough for anyone to sleep
The needs of individuals vary and the
larger and more active the brain the more
sleep it must have. Webster slept nine
hours OF the twentyfour during the
greater part Of his life. Oaber great men
| have also taken the same time for sleep.
To get the rest required by the brain
| worker it is necessary that he should be
able to sleep at will. Bonaparte pos
sessed this happy faculty, and NJ. De Les
seps is said to have so trained himself
that he can sleep at any time, and even 8
whole day and night at q stretch, il op-
portunity offers. Much Of the nervous
irritability and weakness OF young people
ia attributed by the writer to lack of SUI
&c ent sleep.
ABOUT THE POSITION IN WHICH TO SLKEP.
A. to the position IN which one should
sleep authorities greatly differ. The
writer says:
Observations made upon 235 soldiers
show that 81 per cent. slept upon the
right side, % Per cent. upon the left and
6 5 per cent. on the back. A physician,
however, says that it is better to lie on
the right side in the absence Of special
diseases, suca as lung disease, rendering
it desirable to lie on the weak side, go as
to leave the healthy lung free to expand
When rest is taken on the right side the
body is placed where the food gravitates
more easily out of the stomach into the
lntestiBes, and the weight of the stomach
does not compress the upptI
portion of the lptestlnes. L.
show how difficult it is for doctors to
sgTee, their opinions on the proper posi-
ton during sleep may be continued. One
Of them maintains that lying fat on the
back, with the limos relaxed, would seem
to secure the greatest amount OF rest for
the muscular system. Tnls is the posi-
ton assumed IN the most exhausting dis.
eases, and it is generally hailed as toke n
of revival when The patient voluntarily
turns on the side. Sleeping with the arms
thrown over the.head is 60 be deprecated,
because it creates q tendency IT,
cramp and cold in the arms, and
sometimes seems to cause headaches enc
dreams. On the other hand, 8 physician
says that sleep should be taken with the
face downward. Lying with the grea,
weight of the stomach, heart, intestines
and other organs pressing on tn.
numerous nerves about the spine,
must in time work injury. Even ths
half weight, as when person lies on bis
side, must have its bad f. Cts, it Is said.
The eppe and nerves are also abnoTmally
treated by the common way OF resting
Sleeping with the face downward is CALL
ed the natural way.
Again, it is claimed thas healthy per-
son frequently changes his position during
the nighr, by lying on either side or upon
the back. Some physicians contend that
it is Injurious to tue liver to lie on the
right side, is bad for the heart to lie on
the left side, and that sleeping on the BACK
will produce nightmare. One doctor re-
commends sleeping with the pillows
under The feet Instead Of the head, espe-
cially if one be afflicted with
nervous disorders. A London
medical journal advocates hammocks in
place Of Ueos, and the Lancet maintains
that to sleep we'll and he we'll every one
should sleep alone. "Eo two PERSONS"
it says, "no matter VINO they are, should
habltuAlly sleep together. The one 1ill
thrive, the otherS'ose. This is the law.
The case of the aged David and the
youthful maid who sought to impair
physical energy to the King in his senility
occurs 10 mind. The grandmother
with her little grandchild is another case
in point. The sged one keeps strong.
the little one pines away and becomes en-
feebled."
HOW THE SLUMBBR IS GRADED.
Oasarvstinpa MADE Snms litIla time sUn
with scientific accuracy show that for q
perfectly healthy man the first hour
of slumber is very light; after
one hour and fifteen minutes
the depth of sleep increases rap
idly, and reaches its maximum point st
one hour and forty five minutes; the
curve then falls quicklg to about two
hours and fifteen minutes, and afterward
more gradually. At aboutfour hours and
thirty minutes there is second small
rise, which reaches it's maximum at five
hours and thirty minutes, after which the
curve sgsin gradually approaches the
base line until the time Of awakening
Experime nts made upon persons not per-
fectly healthy, or after having made some
exerliop, gave curves Of different form
The curve referred to is the course of the
line In the diagrammatic scale.
THE SCIENCE CT sLERP.
The British Medical Journal describes
the science Of sleep:
Each successive gradation in sleep is
marked by the inclusion Of q nervous sys-
tenn, which Is for the time being shut 0 ID,
so to speak, participating in the genera!
| life-function of the individual until, when
the maximum intensity is attained, roth
/ left but the purely anlmal-one might
almost say the egetattve-life. The
brain shares in the need, which is every
where apparent, of periods of rest. The
products of cerebral activity accumulate
more rapidly than they are eliminated,
and q period therefore arrives when the
tissues are no longer able to do their
work. The result is an invinclble feeling
Of indisposition to exertioD, physical OF
mental. The temporary or involuntary
| cessation of activity is at once followed
| by diminution of the blood supply; the
81 90 mia SO induced being, therefore, q
consequence, and not cause, OF the state
of repose.
The various parts of the nervous sys-
tenn are not all involved simultaneously
or to the same extent. The centres gov
erning voluntary movement are the frs,
| to be affected, as seen in the noddipg of